Breaking Down Ken Block's Electrikhana TWO, the Final Show Before the Curtain Dropped

He was the man who changed the face of motorsport forever. A daredevil. A tire slayer. A hoon. Yet in the best and most breath-holding way possible. And don't tell us you call yourself a fan of the Gymkhana series, and you have never held your breath for a jump or a power slide, or you have never given a sigh of relief when you saw the car landing one piece. Yeah, right. Neither did we, then.

Ken Block's last adventure was in Mexico City, where he partnered up, one more time, a last time, with the Audi S1 e-tron quattro Hoonitron, the car that he simply described as "the best drift car." In the hands of Block, who is always two steps ahead, any car can turn into the "best drift car." Well, no, we’re just exaggerating because of all the hype caused by the Electrikhana. But still….

When the drift star passed away in a snowmobile accident back in January, Hoonigan shelved the footage filmed in Mexico City.  It was supposed to be the second film that he shot in Mexico after Gymkhana TEN, which featured a Ford Focus RS RX.

However, losing Ken Block left the team baffled and unable to make a decision. They eventually took it off the shelf, went into the editing room, and, months later, we got the Electrikhana TWO, with the TWO spelled just like that, in capital letters.

Previewed by a 72-second trailer released a month ago, the tire-shredding Electrikhana TWO shows Kevin Block doing what he does best: handbrake turning, burnouts, jumping, and drifting while outrageously destroying rubber like no other and leaving the scene in a cloud of dust. The whole adventure starts at the Mexican border.

Electrikhana TWO, a rollercoaster of emotions

A message in white on a black background, shown at the beginning of the video, reminds us that the racer is not with us anymore and that the rollercoaster of emotions is about to begin.

Just like in the trailer, Block shows up coming down the stairs at the Plaza de Toros Mexico, in the heart of the city, to meet the Audi S1 e-tron Quattro Hoonitron. It is an EV that features two motor-generator units (MGU), one mounted on the front axle and another one at the rear.

Each of the two units weighs only 55 kilograms, with the transmission included. And each of them brings along 335 horsepower (340 PS) for a total of 670 horsepower (680 PS) and 472 lb-ft (640 Nm) of torque. Block first took it out for fun in front of the camera in Las Vegas for the Electrikhana ONE. He and Audi improved the car after those stunts and returned with a retuned vehicle, more capable than before. He needed more from the drivetrain. He needed it to match his aggressive and extravagant driving style.

The Audi engineers came up with a sort of digital gearbox by programming multiple levels of wheel speed on the electric motors, controlled with a paddle shifter. The change allowed the stuntman behind the wheel to perform more controlled slides and get more precision during donuts.

He also asked them to make the car capable of shifting into reverse at any speed. Furthermore, he asked for opposite-driven wheels, a feature that would allow him to do a standing all-wheel drive burnout. And he got all of them. And all of them show up in the Electrikhana TWO.

The car is seen spiraling up a multi-story car park in Mexico City with smoke coming out of the rear wheels of the poor S1 quattro Hoonitron, making us wonder: can this man ever really drive straight? It must be that massive rear wing pulling the car sideways through an invisible string, slamming into the plastic protective wall and even into a camera filming from the tarmac for that one special shot.

All you hear is the sound of the tires screaming and that lever shifting “gears” as if Block is driving an ICE-powered fire ball like no tomorrow. The lack of the engine sound is somewhat strange, but you learn to live with it while watching.

Halfway through the video, and you feel like taking a break. It’s exhausting to hold your breath and have your heart skip a beat every time the Audi S1 gets too close to a concrete barrier or makes a jump and lands with a "bang!" Dizzy after watching it spinning around a flower pot? We completely understand.

The second half of the almost 12-minute film takes us to the Mexico City International Airport, with the Audi swirling and twisting and turning around everything that comes its way.

A tribute to Ken Block

The last four minutes are dedicated to the Gymkhana, starting back in 2008, when the first video of the series was uploaded on YouTube. Back then, Ken Block was driving a Subaru Impreza WRX rally car.

The tribute ending of the film shows stunts made with precision, moments the cars were inches away from hitting some obstacle, and moments when those inches compressed and we hear the impact “bang.” Ken Block shows up joking and smiling in behind-the-scenes footage and just being his usual self. A daredevil. The legend lives on.

The director of the Electrikhana TWO, Brian Scotto, took to social media to announce that the Gymkhana series will continue with a new driver. Something tells us that Hoonitron still needs to take some time before they announce the name of the driver.